Nine times out of ten, when someone is frustrated that they aren’t selling as much as they’d like, product photography is the culprit.
Online, product photography is absolutely essential.
It’s all your customer has got to go on. And it’s not enough to simply SHOW your product, your products have to SELL your product too.
So, you can think about this as the difference between giving someone a list of your product’s features (what it’s made of, what size it is, care instructions etc) and telling them the benefits they will get from owning your product.
We all know what it’s like to have a special mug that we just love drinking from, a special piece of wall art that inspires us every time we see it, or a piece of jewellery or clothing that just makes us feel great when we wear it.
That is what your images need to share.
How it feels to have a product that you really love.
Something that makes you happy every time you see or use it.
A white box shot shows us your product’s features, but it doesn’t show us how it will feel to own it, to use it, to wear it.
That’s why you need the majority of your images to be lifestyle shots.
We often think of lifestyle shots as showing someone using, or wearing your product but they don’t have to be. You simply need to create a mood around the piece that allows the viewer to imagine themselves using or wearing it.
Take these two images from my lovely friend Caroline of Seabreeze Designs.
The first image shows the features of this starfish necklace. I can see the detail and the workmanship but the second image starts me thinking about a beach lifestyle.
The colour and the driftwood, as well as the soft focus on the chain make me start imagining chilling out on the beach on a gorgeous warm day.
And that is what sells the product to me.
Product photography isn’t only important online.
If you want to get into the top fairs, get into the top galleries, get the best exhibition opportunities, get featured in the press, get accepted to the best online marketplaces, you absolutely must have top notch images. And don’t even think about spending £1000 on that designer to do your website if you don’t have your photos sorted. You are simply wasting your money.
So what are your options for getting great product photographs?
Option 1: Do it Yourself
When you’re starting out it can be pretty daunting to pay a lot of money to get your products photographed, and you’ve probably got a bit of time on your hands too, so you could do it yourself.
However, this does not mean borrowing your dad’s fancy camera that you don’t know how to use, plonking your products down on a table in the garden because you’ve heard natural light is the best and snapping all your products in an hour or so.
If you’re going to do it yourself, you are going to have to spend considerable time and effort on it.
Unless you are a skilled photographer (and probably even then) you are going to have to spend some time learning new skills.
Knowing how to compose, light and shoot an image are all important, but you’re also going to have to learn how to style a shoot too.
Like I said this is perhaps THE most important thing to have in place for your business so make sure that you give it the time it deserves.
Get yourself a book, get yourself an online class – but strap in and be prepared to work hard on this. Creative Live is a good place to start looking for photography courses geared specifically towards photographing products.
Option 2: Semi DIY – Using Mockups or Cleanup Services
If you are pretty familiar with Photoshop, you can purchase styled stock photography from sites like Etsy and Creative Market and add your own images to them. This is called a mock up and can give you a lifestyle shot without the effort of creating a big styled shoot. It works best for prints, cards, t-shirts and mugs. Just search for “Mockup.”
Don’t mistake this for an easy option. You will need to experiment to get something that looks realistic and your success will likely depend on the quality of the shadows and the light in the original file.
Another Semi-DIY alternative is to use sites that can cleanup and enhance the background of your own photos. You email them over and pay a small fee for each image. These are usually best for creating white box shots.
You need white box shots as well as lifestyle shots as they are frequently used in magazine gift guides so this can be a useful service.
Some sites that provide this service are Fotofuze and Pixelz
Option 3: Pay someone else to do it for you.
If you just don’t want to spend time learning to take your own product shots and you have the money, you could pay someone else to do this for you.
Here are some guidelines on how to do this:
DO NOT choose a generic photographer who photographs everything. You need a specialist for this. I am a professional photographer and I am barely competent at product photography so, trust me when I say that not everyone who makes their living from photography can or will do a good job at this.
Spend some time on Pinterest looking at product photography for businesses making a similar product to you. Start a board of product photography that you really like and then start to measure these styles against your brand and your customer base. If you love romantic photography but you make leather satchels for men then you’re going to have to go back to the drawing board and look for something more appropriate.
When you’ve got a Pinterest Board with examples of product photography that you love and that fit your brand, start looking for photographers with a similar style. Some of the makers may have a photography credit shown on their site or they may be prepared to tell you who photographed their work. You can also ask in Facebook Groups of local makers or your local Etsy team might be prepared to give some suggestions too.
Again, this is really important so make sure that you’re not doing it at the last minute before a big show or trade fair. Your preferred photographer may have a waiting list or you may get someone who doesn’t behave professionally and leaves you in the lurch so make sure you’ve got plenty of time to spare.
Option 4: There is no option 4
If you need product photography (actually if you need anything for your business) there are only two options. Do it yourself, or get someone to do it for you. The free photography fairy isn’t coming….unfortunately. I’m sure we’d all be really happy to see her!
It’s up to you. Your images are important and it’s important that they are good, but it’s more important still that you actually have some. Don’t sit there just waiting for the problem to resolve itself because it won’t.
If you can’t afford a pro, then you have to learn how to do it yourself. There is no Option 4.
